Pyongyang's Pirate Regime

Updated May 25, 2004 12:01 am ET

The best that can be said of the ransom that Tokyo has just agreed to pay Pyongyang for the release of five relatives of Japanese abductees is that it is cheap by the standards of Kim Jong Il's usual extortionist tactics.

South Korea paid $186 million to persuade the greedy dictator to turn up at a June 2000 summit with former President Kim Dae Jung. And China coughed up $50 million in grant aid before North Korea would agree to talks on its nuclear programs last year.